Good Grief Festival returns online this March (27th and 28th), with a programme of over 40 free events and 70+ speakers. This time they will be exploring the themes of ‘hope’ and ‘meaning’ at a time when the UK is mourning over 100,000 lives lost to Covid-19.
Following on from the success of the first festival in October 2020 – which was attended by 9,000 people and watched on the Grief Channel by 4,000 viewers – they are back with a packed programme of talks, interviews and webinars. The aim is to provide a space where people can talk, think and learn about grief and perhaps find some support and healing in the process.
They are excited to highlight a Good Grief Festival debut from children’s novelist, TV presenter, and poet Michael Rosen, who will join returning festival favourite, Julia Samuel MBE to discuss important themes such as love, loss, grief, creativity and the connections between them all. We also welcome another new face, the host of The Lost Tapes podcast, Guvna B who will share his personal experiences with depression and anxiety and explore how toxic masculinity affects men, especially black men.
Dr Lucy Selman, Founding Director of Good Grief, from the Palliative and End of Life Research Group at the University of Bristol, said: “Next month marks a year since the first national lockdown – a year which has brought with it huge challenges and significant losses.
“Around the world, millions of people are mourning the deaths of loved ones, friends and family members at an extraordinarily difficult time, when social networks and our usual ways of coping have been profoundly disrupted.
“This spring, when it is needed more than ever, we are holding the Festival to bring people together for solace and support. We are delighted to partner with Marie Curie to shed light on the many dimensions of grief, and provide time and space to share experiences and remember those who have died.”
Over 70 speakers will take part in the festival including English children’s author, poet and former children’s laureate Michael Rosen, who will shortly be publishing a book about his experiences with coronavirus; Julia Samuel (This Too Shall Pass, Grief Works); best-selling authors Nikesh Shukla (The Good Immigrant, Brown Baby) and Katherine May (Wintering), Catherine Mayer and Anne Mayer Bird (Good Grief: Embracing life at a time of death), palliative care doctors Rachel Clarke (Dear Life: A Doctor’s Story of Love and Loss, Breathtaking) and Kathryn Mannix (With the End in Mind), illustrator Gary Andrews (DoodleA-Day/Finding Joy) and Stuart Lawrence, younger brother of Stephen Lawrence and author of Silence is not an Option.
Topics that will be discussed include: Behind the ‘Numbers’: Humanising Covid-19; The Grief Gift: Finding Meaning + Purpose After Loss; How the Seasons Teach us to Grieve; The Importance of Storytelling in Grief; The Guilt Monster: Grief’s Complicated Sidekick; What Harry Potter Teaches us about Grief; Reflections on Death + Dying: Finding Hope; and Finding Your Grief Tribe: The Importance of Community + Connection.
The festival will also include a Grief School featuring 40 hours of on-demand video content categorised by grief type: from childhood bereavement to the death of a partner, traumatic loss to complicated grief, sibling loss to pet bereavement. The School will include conversations between grievers, panel talks with experts, and webinars with bestselling authors.
For more information on the Festival click here
Paul Sartori can offer counselling please click here
